Dell will offer Xsigo Systems' input/output technology as an option for Dell PowerEdge servers and storage products.
The Xsigo I/O Director is a software dashboard that lets IT pros manage I/O resources across multiple servers and storage products. Configuration changes are executed in software rather than hardware, which the vendor says provides more flexibility than physical I/O ports by enabling the deployment of resources on an as-needed basis. Director operates over IP and Fibre Channel.
Xsigo claims its technology can help overcome I/O performance problems caused by running a lot of virtual machines on one server. Solving the weakness makes virtualization more useful for both production servers and end-user applications in the data center.
source: informationweek
Beyond I/O, security is an area that still needs improvement to make virtualization more valuable to businesses.
Nevertheless, virtualization has reached a "tipping point" in the data center. This year, slightly more than half of businesses are expected to have at least two years of experience implementing the technology, and 45% of servers are expected to be virtualized, according to Forrester Research.
According to Xsigo, its I/O infrastructure, when compared with traditional server I/O, offers 30% less power consumption; 70% fewer I/O cards, cables, and switch ports; and predictable I/O bandwidth to applications via hardware-enforced quality of service.
Pricing for the Xsigo system starts at $30,000. More information is available on Dell's Web site.
